by

Erdie Abdi A.
Hasna Alimah B.
Nabila Syafira
Tazkia Amara
 DEFINITION

Politeness may be referred as a matter which is closely intact

with positive actions, possibly followed by positive utterances by an individual.
 POLITENESS STRATEGIES

1. POSITIVE POLITENESS
Positive Politeness: It is referred to as protecting the positive face of other
people. It usually tries to minimize the distance between them by expressing
friendliness and solid interest in the hearer’s need to be respected (minimize
the FTA).
Example:
• Attend to the hearer: “You must be hungry, it’s a long time since breakfast.
How about some lunch?”
• Hedge opinion: “You really should sort of try harder.”
 2. NEGATIVE POLITENESS

Negative Politeness: The main focus for using this strategy is to assume that you may not
be imposing on the hearer, and intruding on their space. Therefore, these automatically
assume that there might be some social distance or awkwardness in the situation.
Example:
• Be indirect: “I’m looking for a comb.”
• Forgiveness: “You must forgive me but…….”
• Minimize imposition: “I just want to ask you if I could use your computer?”
• Use passive voice: “I am afraid your book had to be returned a week ago”
• Pluralises the person’s responsible: “We forgot to tell you that you needed to buy your plane
ticket by yesterday”
 3. BALD ON RECORD STRATEGY

Bald on-record: These provide no effort by you to reduce the impact of the FTA’s. You will likely
shock the person to whom you are speaking to, embarrass them, or make them feel a bit
uncomfortable. However, this type of strategy is commonly found with people who know each other
very well, and are very comfortable in their environment, such as close friends and family.
Example:
• An emergency: Help!
• Task oriented: Give me that!
• Request: Put your coat away.
• Alerting: Turn you headlights on!
 4. OFF RECORD STRATEGY

Off-record: The speakers neither apply positive or negative politeness, and

instead, he went off the record. The utterance usually bears an implicature which
avoids clarity and wanted to be dismissed immediately because the speaker does
not want to attach himself towards a specific intent.
Example:
• Give hints: “It’s cold in here”
• Be vague: “Perhaps someone should have been more responsible.”
• Be sarcastic, or joking: “Yeah, he’s a real rocket scientist!”
EXAMPLE
Bald on-record:

“Do not let the water from your washing machine run onto the floor ever again”.

 Positive politeness:

“Well, I guess you must have been busy with something else, because I got some water in my
place again from your washing machine. How about I help you fix it or even find someone who
can do it for us?”
 Negative politeness:

“I’m sorry to have to ask you, but I wonder if you could be more careful with the hose of your
washing machine? It must need repair as it apparently comes unhooked and then the water
seeps down into my apartment.”

 Off-record:

“Do you need a hand with your washing machine? Perhaps you are not used to the kind of
machine we have here in Japan.”
Source
• https://www.academia.edu/6193601/Semantics_Politeness_Theory